Aromatic N versus aromatic F : bioisosterism discovered in RNA base pairing interactions leads to a novel class of universal base analogs

  • The thermodynamics of base pairing is of fundamental importance. Fluorinated base analogs are valuable tools for investigating pairing interactions. To understand the influence of direct base–base interactions in relation to the role of water, pairing free energies between natural nucleobases and fluorinated analogs are estimated by potential of mean force calculations. Compared to pairing of AU and GC, pairing involving fluorinated analogs is unfavorable by 0.5–1.0 kcal mol -1. Decomposing the pairing free energies into enthalpic and entropic contributions reveals fundamental differences for Watson–Crick pairs compared to pairs involving fluorinated analogs. These differences originate from direct base–base interactions and contributions of water. Pairing free energies of fluorinated base analogs with natural bases are less unfavorable by 0.5–1.0 kcal mol -1 compared to non-fluorinated analogs. This is attributed to stabilizing C–F…H–N dipolar interactions and stronger N…H–C hydrogen bonds, demonstrating direct and indirect influences of fluorine. 7-methyl-7H-purine and its 9-deaza analog (Z) have been suggested as members of a new class of non-fluorinated base analogs. Z is found to be the least destabilizing universal base in the context of RNA known to date. This is the first experimental evidence for nitrogen-containing heterocylces as bioisosteres of aromatic rings bearing fluorine atoms.

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Author:Alrun N. Koller, Jelena Bozilovic, Joachim W. EngelsORCiDGND, Holger Gohlke
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-79863
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkp1237
ISSN:1362-4962
ISSN:0305-1048
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20081201
Parent Title (English):Nucleic acids research
Publisher:Oxford Univ. Press
Place of publication:Oxford
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2010/09/17
Date of first Publication:2010/01/15
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2010/09/17
Volume:38
Issue:9
Page Number:14
First Page:3133
Last Page:3146
Note:
© The Author(s) 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Source:Nucleic Acids Research, 2010, Vol. 38, No. 9, 3133–3146 doi:10.1093/nar/gkp1237
HeBIS-PPN:228449693
Institutes:Biochemie, Chemie und Pharmazie / Biochemie und Chemie
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 54 Chemie / 540 Chemie und zugeordnete Wissenschaften
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell 3.0